Serena Williams cruises past Petkovic to reach Rogers Cup quarters

Toronto: Top seed Serena Williams produced a dominant performance on Friday as she defeated her German opponent Andrea Petkovic in straight sets to advance to the Rogers Cup quarter-finals on Friday in Toronto.

The American smashed nine aces to overcome 16th seed Petkovic 6-3, 6-2 in a contest that lasted one hour and two minutes.

The 21-time Grand Slam champion will next face Roberta Vinci, who claimed a 6-4, 6-3 win over Russia's Daria Gavrilova, for a semi-final berth.